I don’t know about you, but some books just shook me. Not necessarily in a “I need to hide under the covers” shook, more like in a “what the heck am I reading” shook.
When I mean unsettling, really, I’m talking about that definition of the word:
“causing anxiety or uneasiness; disturbing.”
Since October is the spooky season, I thought it was also time to share some of these unsettling YA books with you all. Because sometimes, you want to be spooked, but not necessarily with witchy or horror stories. Sometimes, the contemporary reads can be just as terrifying. Or some fantasy reads with a fascinating, disturbing world-building, or books with twists that are so deeply unexpected you can’t forget them.
I hope you’ll enjoy this list and please, if you have recommendations, I’d love to hear them in comments!
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10 Unsettling YA Books To Read
More Than This, Patrick Ness
99% of my experience reading this book was like “what the heck am I reading” and “wait, what is happening”, then the last part of the book came and I was like, oh. This is the story of a boy who dies… then wakes up, naked, bruised, but ALIVE. What happened to him? What will happen to him, now? There are just SO many questions when you read this book and it’s deeply unsettling, weird and yet, 100 % recommending this because I loved it.
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The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Michelle Hodkin
I read this so many years ago and had such a hard time getting over just how absolutely EXCELLENT this was. Mara Dyer wakes up alone in the hospital, the sole survivor of an accident that killed all of her friends. Of course, she can’t remember what happened, at all. This book made me sweat and wonder and anxious and obsessed all at once. The main character is sooooo unreliable and it’s what makes it so good.
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The Loneliest Girl in the Universe, Lauren James
The Loneliest Girl takes you on one of the wildest rides, ever. Romy’s the only surviving crew-member of a spaceship taking her to a new planet, until she hears about a new spaceship coming with a single passenger on board. They communicate through emails and, little by little, Romy falls in love… This is like one of the biggest “WHAT THE F-” books I’ve read, because I certainly did NOT see what happened coming.
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Meat Market, Juno Dawson
Meat Market is a hard-hitting story about the dark sides of the fashion industry. Once I started reading this, I could NOT stop. It’s unsettling and disturbing and yet addictive to read, like watching a train wreck you know is going to happen, yet you can’t look away. I loved this.
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Creep : A Love Story, Lygia Day Peñaflor
Creep wears its title well: it’s one of the strangest, creepiest books I’ve read. It’s about Rafi, obsessed with the most popular couple in her high school and slowly weaving her way into their lives… It’s very disturbing to read as you see Rafi’s obsession spiral out of control…
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Girls with Sharp Sticks, Suzanne Young
At Innovations Academy, the girls are beautiful, obedient, well-behaved… One day, the girls uncover the dark secret behind their education, and their very existence. This book shook me, it’s absolutely twisted and unexpected and infuriating all at once. I loved it.
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The Girls I’ve Been, Tess Sharpe
This book is about the daughter of a con artist, taken hostage in a bank heist with her ex-boyfriend and current girlfriend. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect when I got this book, but it certainly wasn’t what I got. The Girls I’ve Been was intense, unsettling, gripping, terrifying all at once. It’s messing with your head and you’ll love it.
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This Savage Song, Victoria Schwab
This Savage Song is a story about a city divided in two, with humans and monsters and about what it means to be both human, monster and in between. This is a story with impressive world-building and characters I deeply cared for, yet it’s also terrifying to read. I have read it years ago and am still not ready to read its sequel, aerm.
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We Were Liars, E. Lockhart
We Were Liars is a messed-up book. You probably heard of it, it’s a really popular one, as well, and yet I think it deserves its place onto this particular list. I mean. It’s about a rich, powerful family on their private island, it’s about friendships being torn apart, it’s about secrets and lies and the twists, oh, if you had the chance not to get spoiled for this book just yet, read it.
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The Walls Around Us, Nova Ren Suma
There’s Violet, an eighteen-years-old ballerina ready to reach for her dream… and there’s Amber, locked up at the Aurora Hills juvenile detention center. Both have one person tying them together, one key to all of their darkest secrets… When I think about unsettling, I think about this book. It’s intriguing right from the start, captivating until the very end.
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For more YA book recommendations, check out these blog posts:
- 10 Spooky And Atmospheric YA Books To Read For The Halloween Season
- 10 YA Mystery Books I Can’t Wait To Read (And Hope To Love!)
- 10 YA Books With Shocking Plot Twists (I Didn’t See That Coming!)
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Do you enjoy reading unsettling books? Did you read any of these books mentioned?
Do you have any recommendations for in that same theme? I’d LOVE to hear them in comments!!
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Mara Dyer books are just sooo good, love how the author mix the paranormal with the thriller!
Yeees me too! I can’t remember: have you read the Noah Shaw series as well, or not? 🙂
I love that you included We Were Liars.
It was such a great book! 🙂
The only book I’ve read from this list is we were liars. I’m definitely going to look into reading some of these in the month of October! I’ve been breezing through books recently, so I’m excited to bump some of these to the top of my list. Great post 🙂 xx
Melina | http://www.melinaelisa.com
Ahhh yay, I can’t wait to hear what you think of these! 🙂
I don’t prefer to read unsettling books but whenever I pick one I tend to enjoy them. This is interesting list.
Oh thank you, glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Great list! Girls with sharp sticks sounds like a good one!
It’s a fantastic read! I hope you’ll try it out sometime 🙂
The Mara Dyer series is definitely unsettling, especially the second book! There’s this scene that made me scared to take out the trash for months 😭
Omg that scene 😭 honestly it’s such a complicated book to read. I adored it SO much, yet I was SO creeped out by it at the same time!😭
Loved this post!! The Loneliest Girl in the Universe definitely shocked me as well, the twist really took me off guard 😱 The Walls Around Us sounds really interesting and mysterious!! 😊
Ahh thank you so much, Caro! I’d be so curious to hear your thoughts on The Walls around Us! 🙂
This is such a great list of books~~ ones that disturb are a unique brand, and I love that the plots always have a different edge. I’ve only read More Than This from the list, but I agree that is kept you questioning everything! Thank you for all the recs, many I hadn’t heard of before. Meat Market sounds very fascinating!
Ahh thank you, Sophie! I LOVED Meat Market and haven’t talked about it with lots of people, I’d love to hear what you think of it, if you end up reading it! 🙂
I recently got a special edition of This Savage Song and I can’t wait to read it 😀
Oooooh yay, can’t wait to hear what you think of it!! 🙂
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe is one of those in my “I’ll buy someday” list and I love how everyone hype up the incredible twist and I cannot stop getting more and more curious
Ahh I hope you’ll get a chance to read it soon, I loved it and it surprised me SO much!
I don’t read a lot of spooky books, so I was surprised to see I read a few of these (3). I think the most “seasonal” books I have read would be by Moira Fowley-Doyle. Her books have mood, for sure.
Agree, I love the “mood” of Moira Fowley-Doyle’s books. They’re just so atmospheric and SO good!! 🙂